How to Submit and Make a Good Impression Series Part 1 – Query Letters by Denice Whitmore

What makes a good query letter? I’ve heard this question time and time again from aspiring authors longing for the rare privilege of publication. Let me share some tips I have picked up over the years as well as things that stand out to me from query letters received by our company with submissions.

A business letter format should be used when creating the query. Address the editor you are pitching to by name. This shows that you took the time to find out a bit about them and are not just sending out a generic form letter. This small detail could set you apart from the slush pile. Make sure to include your contact information, not just your email address but also your physical address and telephone number. This is always a good idea even when submitting electronically. If you are submitting a hard copy, be sure to include a self-addressed stamped envelope. This small courtesy doesn’t go unnoticed. It shows that you care about their time and resources. Most important, keep your letter to one page. This is not a synopsis of your book and a biography of your life. Keep it concise and to the point.

First and foremost, your query letter should tell about your book. What’s the title of your book? What’s your book about? What genre does your book fit into? Who is the main character? What is the main plot? What sets your book apart from others? This is not a place for a one-page synopsis (that should be attached separately), but is the perfect place to polish your 30 second elevator speech. Be sure that you are submitting to a publisher or editor who accepts your genre. Editors do not have time to waste. Taking the time to do a little research about who your submitting to and what genres they like to work with is appreciated by editors and publishers. It shows initiative.

I know this seems backwards, but introduce yourself after you have summarized the details of your book. Make sure to mention if you have met the editor at a conference or seminar and if they requested a sample of your work. Keep your background pertinent to writing. Don’t tell the editor about your children or pets. Instead, give them your background in writing. Are you a member of local writers’ group? Do you have any other published works? Do you have a degree in Fine Arts? What qualifications do you have to write about your non-fiction topic? Have you been published in anthologies or magazines? What kind of following do you have in place? What kind of author’s platform have you built for yourself? It’s very helpful if the editor can google you and see an online presence with a following. You don’t have to include all of these, just the things that pertain to you and show your expertise.

The most important thing to do before you submit a query is to PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD. A query is the first impression you give to an editor. If you submit a letter full of typos and grammar errors, it can be a good indicator of how much editing your manuscript will require. A poorly crafted query could land your masterpiece in the slush pile before it’s even looked at. A query letter is the first taste of your writing. It’s how you present yourself and can leave a lasting impression for good or bad. I hope these tips will help make it a good one.

Look for Part 2 – The Four Types of Synopsis and When to Use Them, next month. And…

Keep writing!

Setting up Your Novel by Jo Wilkins

Every author has an idea swirling in their head that they think about non-stop. It consumes their every thought. They talk about the storyline to everyone who will listen, and they think it will make a killer book and eventually a blockbuster movie. So, where do you start? How do you go from concept to a salable product?

In the construction of any idea, there are things an author must consider. To sell a product to a publisher, consider a few techniques that help the reader understand the work.

Keep your writing within certain parameters. The American audience wants a story that moves swiftly and brings them into the plight of the main character as soon as possible. It should make the reader care about the character’s plight and root for that character’s success overcoming the obstacles set before him in the plot. The reader must also see the story from the eyes of only one character at a time. Make the characters interesting and each one needs a real purpose within the plot.

So, the first thing to do is to organize the material floating around your brain. There are several methods to organizing a story. One is to use a process taught in most college English and logic classes. This process is taught under more than one descriptive name: Clustering, Mind Mapping, and the Bubble method. This way of fleshing out a concept into specifics is used by millions. Creative writing teachers teach them in many forms, but any way you use this technique, it will help bring your ideas into a cohesive order and allow you to put together a workable outline for your story.  

To do this, you should start with a large sheet of paper, the bigger the better (I use a sheet 24" by 30" for my students to doodle on in class). Place a small circle in the middle of the sheet, make it just big enough to hold your working title or the theme of the story. This allows you to expand on the thoughts you have treasured for so long. You can now build on those ideas fleshing them into a complete story your reader will enjoy sharing with the characters you develop.

Developing the plot in this way allows you to free-write your way from ideas to concept. I have included sample diagrams at the end of the piece that will show the concept of bubbling. The examples show how to use the method with storyline, setting, and/or a character analysis.

When adding information on each of these bubble sheets free your mind and add everything you can think of to define the object of the diagram. Put down everything that will define the concept you are expanding on. You may not use everything you put down, but you don't want to lose an idea until you have the story defined.

Why are even small ideas significant? After a second look, what looks insignificant may turn out key to plot movement. The more you, the author, know about the plot, the character, or the scene you are constructing, the better picture you can paint for the reader. And, remember, it is the responsibility of the author to use your pen as a paint brush to paint a picture so vivid the reader sees the same image the author has in his mind. If the author blocks the reader from what’s in his mind by writing in vague passive voice, the reader will fill in the gaps. They will relate the plot events to their own world, making the reader the director of the author's story.

Second, consider choosing whose point of view (P.O.V.) will tell the story. Choosing the wrong P.O.V. (or choosing too many) can make or break a story. You, as the author, are the only one who can make this decision. Will you tell the story in first person, from the mind of your main character? Look at how Susanne Collins put her readers into Katniss' head to live the Hunger Games with the character. Or, maybe you could have your readers live the duality in Stephanie Myer's character, Melanie/Wanderer, portrayed in The Host.

You could also choose to write your story in third person (the he said ─ she said experience) as in the Nikki Heat series. Third person stories not only tell the story in abstract, but they show it from the character's P.O.V.

A lot of authors don't understand P.O.V. in its purest form. But to bring it down to basics, choose one character (the P.O.V. character) for an entire story or just one scene. The reader should experience the inner feelings of this character only. The main character can see indecision, fear, or happiness in the other characters, but the other characters can express their feelings only through dialogue.

There are types of P.O.V, to consider other than first or third person. Second person is where the author talks directly to the reader as I am in this piece. Omniscient (The least salable P.O.V. you can write in) is where someone outside of the story is telling the reader what they need to know about the character's or the plot. This only works if you establish the storyteller as a character, the narrator.

Of all of these P.O.V's, agent's and publishers consider the third person the most saleable, although, lately, the first-person novel has made a comeback. Whatever P.O.V. you select, if you write from your heart and construct an intriguing, intricate plot, you can make it something that will catch an agent's or publisher's attention.

More Than Just a Villain by Janelle Evans

All books need an antagonist or villain—they add tension and often are the cause of motivation to our protagonist. But often writers forget to give them as much depth as their protagonist. A villain who is bad just because he wants to be bad is a very boring bad guy. Think in terms of real life when considering antagonist. It’s all about perception, and you see it everywhere.

You might be liked by one person and hated by another. Maybe that person who hates you is justified in how they feel, but the wrong you did to them was out of a great need you can’t express at this time. You could feel torn about what you’ve done, but the secret of why this must be kept isn’t yours to share.

This is just one example, and I’m not saying every antagonist should be a misunderstood good guy either. Let’s face it—being cruel is a human condition. But even the meanest people have their reasons. As a writer you need to have those reasons fleshed out. Even if you never share them with your readers, it will help give authenticity and consistency to your antagonist as you write. Remember the best protagonist have a strong antagonist to face. Take the time to make that antagonist unforgettable.

Platforms, What They Are and Why You Need One By Denice Whitmore

New authors often hear that they need a platform in order to sell their book. This is often a new concept. What is a platform? Your platform is how you present your expertise on the topic you write about. Say you write a book on budgeting. Do you have a degree in finance? Are you sharing how you overcame your budgeting mishaps and now live a debt free, frugal life? What in your experience makes you qualified to give advice on this topic?

A platform is not just your experience in a field; it’s how you present your expertise to the public. Do you have a website with thousands of followers? Do you write a weekly blog? Do you have a YouTube channel with videos? How much social media do you do in relation to your chosen topic? All these things get your name out there and lend to your experience. They give people a reason to listen to your advice. When you have established your online presence as an expert in your field, you have built a readymade audience for the book you want to write. If people already follow your blog, follow your tweets, join your Facebook group, they will be excited to buy your book.

This works for fiction as well as non-fiction. On July 15, 2018 NewLink Publishing released Ghost of a Chance: a SEEK Team Investigation, By Sharon Day. This book is about a team of ghost hunters led by a psychic. Sharon has a website dedicated to ghost hunting, Bigfoot searches, and all things paranormal. She writes a blog, has self-published books in the past, and we are excited to release her first traditionally published book. She has built a ready-made audience for her new book release. She has put a lot of time and effort into building her platform and it is paying off. Check out her website at www.ghosthuntingtheories.com.

So, before you think about writing a book, think about getting your name out there. This pre-marketing strategy could even help your book get picked up by a reputable publisher. Give it some thought. Build your platform and get your name out there. It will pay off in the long run.

Keep writing!

Three Ways to Raise Your Novels Ability to Entertain by Janelle Evans

Writing a book is hard. Writing a book someone else would actually enjoy reading is even harder. Trust me, my love of reading has led me to many a stinker. Some of those were supposed to be New York Best-Selling, so not even well-known authors are immune to bad story telling. In hopes to improve writers everywhere, here are three things that keep a reader captive.

1.      Don’t start your story with giving the readers a ton of backstory. It’s a mistake that will have readers closing a book faster than anything else. Yes, all characters have a backstory, but SO WHAT! People in real life have backstories, too. People don’t generally go around wanting to here another person’s history without spending some time with them first. So, give your reader a character in an opening scenario that grabs their interest.

2.      Keep your sentences tight. This goes way beyond the passive verbs “was” or “to be.” Crazy long sentences with flowery descriptions or lists drags the pace of any story. Stick to the point, and as I’ve said a thousand times, build the world around your character as you go. Not every inch of a place has to be described, only the parts pertinent to the story.

3.      Don’t make your reader wonder who is speaking. Snappy dialogue can go a long way in keeping a reader interested. But if they have to reread sections twice just to figure out who’s speaking, you will lose them.

Remember, your goal is to achieve a seamless effect, where your story is so easy to read and understand, it’s as if the words on the page disappear. Great writers aren’t searching for praise on their word choices and sentence structures. An author’s ability to write is self-evident by the enjoyment others get by reading their work. 

Promotional Memes by Janelle Evans

My latest novel, Stuffed Souls, released a month ago. While this is my fourth published novel, the anticipation for it to launch was just as nerve-racking as the first three. Every author wants their work to be well-received. A cover that strikes a desire in the hearts of millions to buy your book immediately wouldn’t be too bad either. But a successful promotion doesn’t end with the book release—nor is it really the beginning.

I spent hours preparing promotional memes before the release date. Now those memes have to be trickled into the many forms of Social Medias and other ad campaigns to get the word out there. Remember, there is a sea of new books being launched every day. As authors we need to do all we can to get ours noticed. You worked too hard to just let it sink to the bottom. The more you prepare and research your advertising options ahead of a launch can greatly affect how well your book will sale. So remember…

The Importance of Understanding Your Audience by Janelle Evans

As an author, understanding your audience is paramount, at least, if you want to sell books. That may seem callused and calculating to what really is a creative process, but you’re not spending all these hours clicking away on a computer for mere self-fulfillment. It’s for others to read and enjoy. So today I will be talking about three audience factors I always consider while writing novels.

First: the age group of my target audience. I write for young adults so I don’t fill my novels with uncommon word choices. Let me write that statement using different words to illustrate. I compose for young adults so I don’t dominate my narratives with infrequently used terms. The sentence means the same thing as the first statement but let’s face it, it’s harder to read, especially for my target age group of 12-18. If you write for an older audience go ahead and elevate the vernacular, but I like to caution all writers of fiction. If your audience has to keep pulling out a dictionary to understand you, they will stop reading. Your goal when writing fiction isn’t to show your audience how smart you are. Entertain them and I promise they will come back for more.

Second: the age of the protagonist in the story. It is best if the main hero/heroine of you story is close in age to your target audience. Other sub-characters can be older or younger as needed, but if the character is going to be a love interest, they should also be close in age. Yes, in society we see age gaps between couples, but it is not as common as it used to be. For example the Victorian age of Jane Austen’s novel Emma. In the story, Emma is sixteen and her eventual love interest is thirty-two-year-old Mr. Knightly. Yeah…that’s probably not going to work in today’s society. You don’t want an ew factor to happen with your audience and your character’s budding relationship.

Third: the all-important ending. Since I write for young adults my goal is to give them satisfying happy endings. It’s what this age group expects and likes the most. Now if you’re a writer that despises happy endings, young adult fiction probably isn’t for you, but again I would caution you in whatever you write. All endings should satisfy your audience. That doesn’t mean it has to end happy, but there should be clear resolve to the conflicts in the story. If it is a series, not all conflicts have to be resolved, but give your reader something uplifting to cling to before you make them wait for that next novel to be released.

Like and As by Richard Draude

Which of these sentences are correct?

1. Winston tastes good like a cigarette should. (This is a famous ad jingle?)
2. He spends money like a drunken sailor.
3. He lied on the witness stand, like one would expect a guilty person to do.
4. My cousin looks like Greta Garbo.
5. Robert likes to run his company as though he were a dictator.

Only sentences 3, 4 and 5 correctly employ the word "like."

Remember these two rules when considering the use of "like":
Rule 1: "Like" can be either a verb or a preposition but not a conjunction. Thus, we should not use
it before a subject-verb combination (a clause).

In sentences 1, 2, and 3, we should use the conjunction "as" or "as if" in place of the word "like"
because in each case "like" is followed by a clause. In these corrected sentences, we have
bracketed the clauses and capitalized the subjects and verbs to highlight the grammatical
structure:

1. Winston tastes good [as a CIGARETTE SHOULD].
3. He lied on the witness stand, [as ONE WOULD EXPECT a guilty person to do].

Rule 2: We should use "like" either as a preposition to demonstrate a resemblance between two
things or as a verb to express a preference.

In sentence 2 the comparison of spending money. In Sentence 4, "like Greta Garbo" is a
prepositional phrase. In sentence 5, "like" is the verb in the main clause, and "as though" is the
conjunction launching the subordinate (dependent) clause.

Of course, in casual correspondence or in conversations we have more flexibility. In many
idiomatic expressions using "like" are perfectly acceptable even though they do not follow these
rules. Consider also the expression "It looks like rain," which employs a perfectly acceptable
idiom for the highly formal statement "It looks as though it is going to rain."

The bottom line: in formal contexts, we use "like" only as a verb or a preposition and never when
we mean "as," "as if," or "as though."

Do any of these sentences correctly use the word "like"?

1. Like a man walking a tightrope, he teetered on the brink of financial ruin.
2. It looks like Arthur could become the next unit director.
3. He acts like he owns the world.
4. He carried an umbrella, like everyone should do on a rainy morning.

ANSWERS:

1. Like a man walking a tightrope, he teetered on the brink of financial ruin. [Correct because we
are making a comparison.]
2. It looks as though [or as if] Arthur will become the next unit director.
3. He acts as if [or as though] he owns the world.
4. He carried an umbrella, as everyone should do on a rainy morning.

Blogging—Another Way to Promote by Denice Whitmore

Ah…blogging. We’re told as authors it’s a great way to stay connected to our fans, but it can still be overwhelming to many writers—adding one more thing to the endless promoting we’re supposed to do once we are published. I know. I’m right there with you. Here are some tips to help ease the blogger’s plight.

1.         As an author you should already know your audience. This is also key when blogging. If your novels aren’t written for the politically savvy, keep politics out of your posts. If you write for young adults, the adult-ish struggles of your life may not interest them. Yes, as the author of your blog, it’s going to be your opinion you are expressing. But—and this is a big but—be careful what you write. The written word is a powerful thing. It can draw people in or it can cause them to reject you completely, which gives me the perfect segue into my second tip.
2.        Do all you can to keep your posts positive. Negative words seldom ever bring positive results.Unless you are the author of some polarizing subject with many followers, leave the bashing of persons, places, or things out of your posts.
3.        Keep your posts short. It’s a blog not another novel. Simple and snappy posts are most effective. People are busy, be considerate of that and they’ll be more inclined to click again when your next post pops up. I try to keep mine to no more than 300 words.
4.        You don’t have to blog every day. I only blog once a week, but that post happens at the same time and same day every week. The number of times you blog in a month is up to you, but be consistent. It shows you care about your fans and take your work seriously.
5.      My final tip—have fun with blogging. This is a great opportunity for your audience to get to know you. Blogging about my hilarious screw-ups in life have been some of my most responded to posts. So let’s get out there and blog our way into recognition. 

Social Media by Janelle Evans

Social media is one of the ways we as writers can spread the word about our past and upcoming books. Ranging from free to a fairly inexpensive way to promote your work, every author should strive to be savvier in this area of promotion. 

One way to strengthen your social media presence is create memes with images of your work. Here are a couple of examples I have made to promote my own.

I use canva.com to create all my advertising artwork—from posters to memes. It’s user friendly with tons of layouts and text settings. Not everything is free at this site, but since they allow me to download my own images and create my own layouts, everything I do from this site is free for me. How is that possible?

• Tip #1: Use a google or Bing.comsearch to find pictures for your background. If they don’t have a watermark covering them, you don’t have to pay royalties to copy and download them to Canva. The rose picture you see I found by typing (winter, rose). The other picture I found by typing (rippling water). Yes, it’s time consuming to go through pictures. I set aside a few hours every Saturday just typing in random words and seeing what pictures pop up. Anything that jumps out at me I save to Canva, even if I don’t know what I’ll use it for at the moment.
• Tip #2: You want to look for wallpaper sized pictures. They don’t tend to pixelate, or get burry, when you try to enlarge them as often as other pictures do. I usually use the word wallpaper in my search also just to help weed out some of the thousands of free pictures out there.
• Tip #3: There is an option on canva.com to make the picture you create as a link to other webpages. Don’t use it. Social Media sites don’t support it. When you upload these memes, write those links in the subject bars instead. Then your customers will have a working link they can click on to buy your book after being amazed by your eye-catching artwork.

The last thing I would like to mention about promotion is that it is time consuming. So, I also use a web platform that helps me look like I spend more time on social media than I actually do. Hootsuite.com enables me to schedule posts and comments across all of my social media accounts. From this website I can view comments and drip in posts, up to 30 per month. If you want unlimited accesses for scheduling it will cost you a yearly fee, but so far I have found 30 schedule posts per month to be more than enough.

Why the Author by Jo A. Wilkins

Published by a commercial imprint or self-published, marketing your book falls on your shoulders. You can depend on the publishing house to secure venues to publicize your book, but, in all cases, the readers want to hear from and/or rub elbows with the author of their favorite genre.

Why is this you ask. Well, you as an author have built a world or situation that takes the reader away from their humdrum lives. You take them into a place where they can live out a situation or fantasy that they don’t have the ability or (in some cases) the courage to experience.

Take me for example. I am an introvert with many phobias. I’m claustrophobic, I have a fear of heights, and I am afraid of flying, etc. So, what do I write, I write science fiction that takes place in the future, on other planets and more than scary for me, out in space. And how do we get from one place to another? We FLY in metal ships that, in most cases, have cramped quarters and are speeding through the nothingness of space.

The scene I get the most comments on is one where a passenger on the protagonist’s ship lets his fear of flying influence a dream he has while flying to a newly colonized world. It accentuates his fear of being caught in the depths of space with nothing to support him -- no air, no rescue, and a tight, one-person escape pod to climb into.

Or, take the author of Seraphim Sword, Jeff Ketner, whose book we released on November 15th. He has lived confined to a wheelchair with MS all his life. He created a world in his book where he runs free to chase demons and witches. He writes his fantasy of freedom – to move about unfettered and fight the evils of the world he created.

These are the reasons why readers want to hear from the author, not the publisher. To see why and question how they came up with the story that sucked them into the author’s world. This is why James Patterson’s publisher never holds his books up on the commercials. The readers want to see Mr. Patterson and hear why he thinks his new book is right for them to read.

Authors who attend book signings or shows and sit back in a chair at the back of the booth (or as I watched on one occasion an author who knitted and ignored her prospective customers) are the ones who sell nothing. If you stand outside the booth or at the table and talk to prospective buyers as they pass, you have a chance to sell that book you slaved over. I know one author who does magic tricks to entice customers to his table. Myself, I tell my authors to keep a bowl of candy on the edge of their table and a poster of reviews behind them.

Just like publishers who receive thousands/millions of submissions each year are overwhelmed by who to choose, readers are inundated by the number of books produced each year. Why should they choose your book? What does it offer them? They will never know if you, the author, don’t let them in on the secret.

So, to sum it up, advertising a novel is more productive when done by the author. If authors care about their books and are proud to show them off, then the reader might be intrigued enough to take a chance purchasing a copy.